Win

Ruslan Ponomariov

Loss

Judit Polgar

Loss

Anatoly Karpov

Win

Judit Polgar

Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine has a one point lead after seven rouns of the Liga de Campeones tournament in Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain. Three rounds remain. Also known as the Chess Champions League, the tournament features four former world champions, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania and Judit Polgar of Hungary, the highest ranked woman in history. The event was originally supposed to have five former champions, but Nisipeanu stepped in to replace Alexander Khalifman of Russia who pulled out at the last minute when he had to have emergency surgery for an undisclosed illness.

The tournament is actually a fund-raising event for a hospital in Mbuji-Mayi, Congo. In addition to the tournament, there are concerts by the Moscow Orchestra, a fashion show and an auction of memorabilia from famous Spanish sportsmen, including Migual Indurain, five-time winner of the Tour de France. It is explained on the tournament Web site, which is in Spanish.

Polgar is tied for second place with Nisipeanu and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Polgar might be challenging for the lead, but she has lost two games to Ponomariov, including a demolition in Round 6 when she allowed Ponomariov to get a bind on the dark squares and then imprudently pushed the pawns in front of her castled king. That allowed Ponomariov to launch a king-side attack that caught her king in a mating net.

Polgar bounced back in Round 7 when she beat Anatoly Karpov of Russia. Karpov actually achieved a good game and won a pawn, but then he made a series of small missteps culminating in a terrible blunder that left his own king in a mating net.

Urgent request to M. DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN: please use the general notation showing captures with an x and a check with a +, as is done in all the archives of Chessgames and ChessBase, and also in the New York Times Chess Viewer, and the columns of Raymond Keene in the London Times and the Int’l Herald Tribune, without mentioning most modern chess books and most chess viewers.
As is, I find the notation used in the chess games shown in M. McLain’s columns in Crosswords/Games nearly unreadable. I have to download the games from Chessgames to be able to follow his comments. This is a sheer disservice to his readers, the principle being that clarity in notation is a must. Please follow the good example of the New York Times Chess Viewer. ROO, Paris, France

Second comment: The NYTimes Chess viewer is very attractive and efficient. Especially the slow visible motion of the piece to the next square. It’s probably the best found online, and I am very proud that the NY Times goes for the highest quality.
However I find the comments to be on the sparse side. Quite a few more moves would deserve an explanation or comment. Some alternative plays would also deserve mention. So far the commentary is not exhaustive enough. In one of the games black misses an obvious immediate counteroffensive, which is not discussed at all in the comments.
Also, it’d be more convenient if the move just played would show more visibly in the list of moves by making the little rectangle stand out more markedly, either by making it bold, or showing it in color (red, blue) rather than the light grey you’re using. Again both Chessgames and ChessBase’s Data base indicate the move just played in a stronger fashion (bold type for Chessgames, color for Chess Data Base). But then the NY Times Chess Viewer would be perfect, and who wants perfection? ROO, Paris, France

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In its 1,500-year history, chess has imbedded itself in the world's culture and vocabulary. Ideas, terms and images from the game have long been used as proxies for intelligence and complexity. But chess is more than a diversion. Thousands worldwide play professionally or earn a living by teaching it to children. The Internet has transformed the game, making it easy for players anywhere to find an opponent day or night. Chess computers, originally developed to test the bounds of artificial intelligence, now play better than grandmasters. This blog will cover tournaments and events, trends and developments. Reader comments and questions will be more than welcome.

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